The club was founded in 1861 and is one of the oldest clubs in English rugby. Throughout their history they have been one of the leading rugby union clubs in the North of England. Sale moved into Heywood Road in 1905 and would remain there until 2003.[4]

Sale were unbeaten in 26 matches, winning 24 and drawing two in 1911.

Although Pat Davies is counted as Sale's first international, having been picked to play for England in 1927, it was G.A.M. Isherwood who was Sale's first representative in an international Test match,[5] when he played in all three tests of the 1910 Britishtour to South Africa at scrum-half.[6] The club has consistently provided international players and, during the 1930s, had one of its most dominant periods, fielding players of the calibre of Hal Sever (England), Claude Davey and Wilf Wooller (Wales) and Ken Fyfe (Scotland). It came as little surprise when they took out the 1936 Middlesex Sevens.

Sale ruled the roost in county cup rugby for 15 straight seasons as they went unbeaten from 1972 to 1987 in every one of those cup fixtures. During this period, Sale competed for the chance to be English club champions. In their first year, one after the inaugural competition kicked off in 1971, they made the semi-finals only to lose to eventual winners Coventry 35–6.

During the nineties, despite thrilling displays under Paul Turner, and his successor John Mitchell, both club and ground struggled to keep a grip on the demanding commercial and financial realities of running a professional rugby club.

Sale took 20,000 fans to Twickenham for the 1997 Pilkington Cup Final but Leicester won a mistake-ridden match 9–3. This interest quickly faded and the anticipated increased crowds never materialised and relegation from the Premier Division loomed until rugby union-playing local businessman Brian Kennedy came to the rescue late in the 1999–2000 season. Since then, the club has been on a sound financial footing.

Off the field, Peter Deakin was recruited from Warrington Wolves rugby league as chief executive to employ the skills he had used with the Bradford Bulls and Saracens and he made an immediate impact in raising the club's profile until hit by the serious illness which claimed his life in February 2003.

Success was not immediate; Sale Sharks finished eleventh and tenth in the 12-strong Premiership table in the first two years of the new Millennium. It took the coaching partnership of two former Sale players, Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond, to produce a team that were 2002 runners-up and qualified for the Heineken Cup.

The latter Mallinder days saw the club at Twickenham again in 2004, losing narrowly to the Falcons in the Powergen Cup Final. In the summer of 2004 Jim Mallinder left Sale to take up a position in the RFU's National Academy. Following Mallinder's departure Sale appointed former French international Philippe Saint-André who had recently been turned down for the vacant position as coach of Wales. However with a new influx of players including French internationals Sébastien Bruno and Sébastien Chabal helped Saint-André and Sale win the 2005 European Challenge Cup again at Oxford, this time 27 – 3 against Pau, for the second time in three years.

New additions to the squad for the 2005–2006 season included French prop Lionel Faure, Samoan back Elvis Seveali'i and Welsh number eight Nathan Bonner-Evans.[7] Building on their European Challenge Cup success, Sale won 16 games out of 22 to finish two games clear at the top of the table. In the semi-final, they won 22 – 12. They won the 2006 Guinness Premiership title with a 45 – 20 win against Leicester Tigers.

After the success of the 2005/06 season many at the club had hoped for a repeat and with a strong squad boosted by several quality players including England Saxons centre Chris Bell, Former Wales prop Ben Evans and Argentina flanker Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe it seemed likely. However over the autumn months an injury crisis began with the loss of Scotland capain Jason White to a knee injury whilst playing against Romania. More bad news followed with England fly half Charlie Hodgson and England prop Andrew Sheridan falling to knee and ankle injuries respectively. More and more injuries were picked up over the following months until Sale were left with only 17 of a 38-man squad fit to play in their final Heineken Cup match against Ospreys. (Source: Sale sharks website)

A new Premiership record of 4 games without leaking a try was set at the start of the season, these games were Newcastle (A), Saracens (H), Bristol (A) and Gloucester (H).

In December 2008 the club's board announced that Philippe Saint-André would step down from his position as Director of Rugby at the end of the season. Head coach Kingsley Jones was promoted to Director of Rugby, assuming overall responsibility for all rugby operations. Former Sale winger Jason Robinson replaced Jones as Head Coach from the start of the 2009/2010 season.

Sale was knocked out of the European Cup in the group stages. Despite earning a bonus-point win over Clermont in France in the first round, a defeat at home to Munster, a defeat to Montauban and Munster beating The Sharks in Ireland led to a disappointing exit.

Charlie Hodgson was voted the player of the year at the club's end-of-season awards on Thursday 30 April 2009.

It was announced on 18 March 2009 that Sale Sharks had signed Ben Cohen. The former England Winger signed from French outfit Brive.

In February 2010, the club announced that it had signed former Welsh international Dafydd James until the end of the season to provide cover for injured players in the back division.[11]

Sale had a disappointing season, finishing 11th in the Premiership and only securing safety from relegation on the penultimate weekend of the season.

Sale's Heineken Cup campaign also ended in disappointment, although they did challenge the group favourites Toulouse and the Cardiff Blues. The highlights of the campaign were a stunning 27–26, win at home to Cardiff and wins home and away against Harlequins.

Towards the end of the season, there were changes made in the coaching staff. Keith-Roach stepped down from his duties after deciding he could not commit to a full-time role.[12] Robinson, who originally had no intentions to coach but responded to the club's request for help,[12] left the club to pursue other interests.[13] Former All Black forward Mike Brewer replaced Robinson as head coach, while Kingsley Jones remained as Director of Rugby, with the added responsibilities of long-term squad planning and running the academy.[13]

In December 2010, after only eight months in the role, Brewer was sacked as head coach. Academy coach Pete Anglesea took over as first team coach on a temporary basis until the end of the season, leading Sale to a 10th placed finish.

In the 2011–2012 pre-season, former player Steve Diamond was announced as chairman. Immediately, an overhaul of the playing and coaching staff began, dubbed "Diamond's Revolution", including buying international players such as Andy Powell[14] and Tony Buckley.[15] With these new players and a fresh coaching lineup including former London Wasps coach Tony Hanks,[16] Sale started the season well, with early victories over London Irish and Northampton, but form faltered towards the latter half of the campaign, and Tony Hanks was fired as head coach after a defeat to Saracens.[17]

Tragedy struck in January 2012 when it was discovered that 24-year-old former winger and England Under 19s and Under 20s representative Selorm Kuadey had apparently committed suicide.[18] He had played with Sale for five seasons before retiring in 2010 due to injury.[18]

In April 2012, Sale announced that they would be moving stadium from Edgeley Park, their home since 2003, to the newly constructed Salford City Stadium (now renamed AJ Bell Stadium), to share with the Salford City Reds. At the close of the season, Sale beat Gloucester and Bath to sixth place in the Premiership, meaning that they qualified for Heineken Cup rugby in the 2012/2013 season. More signings were announced, most prominently the return of popular prop Eifion Lewis-Roberts, the signing of Scottish international Richie Gray and a return to English rugby for Danny Cipriani.

A disappointing season for Sale at their new stadium, with them spending most of the season in the relegation place. But later performances led to them finishing 10th overall. They played well in the Premiership 7's beating Leicester Tigers, and Northampton Saints leading to them qualifying for the final grouping. When they played in the final grouping, losses to Saracens and Gloucester saw them knocked out, with no chance of silverware. There was one Momentous moment as Mark Cueto over took former Sale team-mate Steve Hanley, as top try scorer in the premiership, Steve's record stood at 75 tries, and Mark scored his 76th try, against Exeter Chiefs[19]

Their first win of the season was against Cardiff Blues in the Heineken Cup,[20] which was their only win in that years Heineken Cup, where they finished bottom of their pool.[21] But also in that years Heineken Cup, they also lost to Toulon 62-0 with a nine try demolition of the Manchester team.[22]

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Sale Sharks signed a three-year deal with Manchester business UKFast, the value of the deal being in excess of £2 million.[26] UKFast started sponsoring the club in 1999, at the same time they changed their name from Sale to Sale Sharks. Lawrence Jones, a keen supporter of Sale and managing director of UKFast, announced a sponsorship deal in March 2009 which ended previous sponsor McAfee's four-year association with the club.

In April 2011, Jones decided to end UKFast's deal with Sale, explaining that the decision was taken partly for business reasons, but also due to changes at the club – including Charlie Hodgson's departure at the end of the 2010–11 season.[27]

In July 2011, the club announced that credit card lender MBNA would become the club's Principal Partner for the next three seasons, and that the partnership would see the MBNA logo on the front of all three of Sales Sharks' home, away and European shirts.[28]